


Break My Heart Again

by ImperfectSilence



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: But after millenia it wears on you, But she does love, Calypso tries to be brave and kind, F/F, F/M, Gen, If you thought breakups were hard, Only the cycle of people she's fallen for and never seen again, Pining, She doesn't even know how long she's been trapped, despair and defeat, over and over again, resignation, she can't help it, try having them be your entire life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29371014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperfectSilence/pseuds/ImperfectSilence
Summary: An AU take on Percy Jackson, specifically the Ogygia and calypso's curse. This is the story of calypso after many cycles of heroes, many people who land on her shores and are forced to leave once more. An unbreaking, unceasing cycle.This work inspired by Break My Heart Again by Finneas - would highly recommend listening for the first chapter.





	1. Opening

Standing there, she knew it was inevitable. The same sad route the same sad footsteps. The same tune, the same clouds, the same sinking feeling in the chest. The skies were light grey, the dark foreboding haze breaking apart as the next victim was dragged in. The sunlight, shattering through the fog and the clouds, one radiant beam soaring down to warm her face. A gentle caress of the timelost promise, one of many could-have-beens.

The waves on the shore picked up and then fell back placid again, slowly working up to drag the body to shore. The seas only had two settings here, violent and confining or calm and pristine. There was never an in between, a third option, a common ground. Every time was the same, the cycle forever locked and playing out. Broken records and broken promises-one for every half crushed shell on the beach.

As the distant fog thinned and she braced herself, she thought about the process. Her eternal punishment, her living damnation. Some might call other’s punishments worse but she would beg to differ. Eternal torment was harsh, but monotonous. Eventually the pain just fades into a haze and everything loses meaning.

But meeting someone new, someone interesting and caring and wonderful- a hero full of promise and duty and power. Someone attractive or dashing or simply kind. Every time the clouds parted, she was right back at the start, bracing herself for the inevitable fall. No one could stay here, no one but her. They all had lives, had responsibilities, had hopes and dreams beyond this land. It was easier, kinder just to play along. To let herself be ensnared and have it all ripped away. She tried playing jaded, playing violent, played meek and defeated. Each time they simply adapted and sent someone a flavor different. Every time they found someone she couldn’t help but adore. Someone she had to watch leave as her heart is torn in two.

In the far distance, the mists thinned and she glimpsed for a moment the world beyond. It had been so long since she had walked on foreign land. Since she had seen the world past her gilded cage. She longed to step past the barriers and _feel_ how the world had evolved over the years. Her visitors did their best to help her see how times had changed and evolved, but she suspected they meddled with when her patrons came. Some of the tales they told didn’t fit in the order she kissed them in.

But, as the mists closed once again she had to face the truth- she was never leaving this place. Never going to walk on stranger lands, to taste exotic fruits. She would never see the marvels these mortals described with love and profound wonder. Never be allowed to know what it was like outside.

This was her life, her crime. Her punishment and her salvation. This was everything she was. For better or worse. So, she feigned a smile and waited for the body to drift in with the tide. She waved a hand to gather some fruits in a basket and tidy up her space. First impressions were important after all!

Even if they never mattered, really. This only ever ended one way- heartbroken.


	2. Welcome to Paradise: now with less tourists

It tasted like salt, like the oceans had grabbed him by his socks and carried him away. He’d been drifting for who knows how long, lost on the tides. He frowned, unable to remember much before the waters swept him away. He had something important, something vital to do. They were depending on him to- to do something. But he couldn’t remember what, or where, of even why. There was only the rocking of the waves and the smell of clean salt air. His feet dragged something for the first time he could remember and it shocked him to much he didn’t get his footing. So, naturally, the next wave bowled him over and dragged him along the sand. Sputtering, he shot up staggering to his feet to- giggles?

Holding a hand in front of her mouth, she couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t nice, but he had been rolled over by the waves, scraped on the shoreline and came up like a beached whale all blowing brine. His hair hung ragged, but one cowlick was not to be defeated by something so trivial as the ocean and stuck up in three directions anyway. He was dressed like one a few times ago, an orange shirt in tatters and blue pants of denim.

“Who are you?” He asks suspiciously even as she holds out her hand.

“My name is Calypso- and I am sorry about laughing. It was quite rude of me.” She says warmly. She looks like a goddess, hair spun gold by the sunlight behind her, head tilted and hand outstretched. She’s dressed in a clean chiton, flowing silk and neat pins. Legs that stretch for days and-

“Thanks.” He says, accepting the hand and letting her pull him up, “I guess it must have been quite the sight, me bowled over by a gentle swell.”

“It was more the spout of water you shot off once you were ashore. That and this,” she says running a hand over the tips of his cowlick.

“That thing never goes away- I’ve tried. Superglue, ductape, shears- it’s immune to being tampered with.” He says back, looing around the shore. They’re on a small beach, shrub grasses fetching into bushes and trees as the island ascends. Out on the water, he can’t’ see anything at all for all the fog.

“Well, maybe you have not tried everything just yet.” She says with a wink, licking her fingers and smoothing the hair down. To his shock, the spur lays flat.

“Marry me?” he says half-jokingly, turning to face her. Her grin falls and she steps back, turning to walk away.

“Hey, look it was a joke.” He shouts, “a joke! I’m sorry.” He calls out, rushing after her. He catches up along the forest path. “It was in poor taste, I’m sorry.”

Calypso finds her fingers through her hair and can’t bring herself to look at him. “It is alright. It just shocked me is all.”

“So I know your name, but I take it you don’t know mine? It’s a shame, cause I don’t know mine either. Where are we anyways? Hawaii? Guam? Indonesia? Tahiti?”

“This is a magical place.” Calypso says softly, forcing herself to look at him as she confesses the situation, “Welcome to Ogygia.”


End file.
